Don’t have a wallet? Read our guide on the best Bitcoin & cryptocurrency wallets.

Luno is a Bitcoin trade with a nearness in South Africa, Singapore, Nigeria, Malaysia and Indonesia. It offers 0% fees for market makers, meaning you can avoid fees if you place a buy order then wait for a seller to take it.

Luno furthermore offers a fast get.

We may receive compensation when you use Luno. Please visit Luno for its exact pricing terms.

• High to infinite limits for exchange, depending on verification level

CONS

• Users should not store bitcoins in Luno’s wallet service

• Ease of Use

• Easy

• Privacy

• Low

• Speed

• Fast

• Fees

• Low

• Reputation

• Trusted

• Limits

• High

LocalBitcoins is an escrow service which also helps to match bitcoin buyers and sellers. The most widely recognized of payment for purchase is cash deposit. However, clients may advertise trades for whichever payment method they prefer.

Purchasing bitcoins via an in-person meeting, secured and facilitated by LocalBitcoins, may be one of the fastest and most private ways to buy bitcoins in any country.

We may receive compensation when you use LocalBitcoins. It would be ideal if you visit LocalBitcoins for its exact pricing terms.

PROS

• Can be private, quick and simple

• In-individual exchanges require no personal information

• Purchases of bitcoin can be made quickly via cash deposit

CONS

• Beware of scams; dependably pursue the principles!

• Harder to purchase a lot of bitcoins contrasted with substantial trades

NairaEx is the biggest Bitcoin trade in Nigeria. Its clients can buy bitcoins with Perfect Money, bank exchange bank transfer or with cash via bank deposit.

PROS

• Long-running Nigerian trade

• Several payment methods

CONS

• Identity verification offers less privacy than other purchase methods in Nigeria, like LocalBitcoins

Ease of Use

Easy

Privacy

Low

Speed

Average

Fees

Average

Reputation

Trusted

Limits

Average

BitPesa is a Bitcoin remittance company. They sell bitcoin in Kenya through the popular M-PESA mobile payment service. BitPesa also has a presence in 2 other African countries. In Nigeria, you can use BitPesa to buy bitcoins with your debit card or Paga account. In Uganda, you can buy with MTN or Airtel. Buying technique for kenya is coming soon.

• Identity verification offers less privacy than other methods in Nigeria or Uganda, like LocalBitcoins

Ease of Use

Easy

Privacy

Low

Speed

Average

Fees

Average

Reputation

Trusted

Limits

Average

Bitcoin ATMs

You can use our Bitcoin ATM map (guide to search) to buy bitcoins with cash. Bitcoin ATMs can be a quick and easy way to buy bitcoins and they’re also private. That convenience and privacy, however, comes with a price; most ATMs have fees of 5-10%.

PROS

• Our map makes it super easy to find a Bitcoin ATM near you

CONS

• Bitcoin ATMs often have 5-10% fees per purchase

Mycelium Local Trader

Mycelium Local Trader helps you find local Bitcoin sellers. Once you locate a seller, you meet up in-person and conduct the trade. Mycelium charges absolutely no fees. While Mycelium Local Trader works great in highly-populated areas, users in low population areas will have trouble finding sellers.

PROS

• Easy and minimal effort approach to buy bitcoins with cash

• Private way to buy bitcoins, no personal information required beyond cellphone number

Changelly allow you to buy bitcoin with Litecoin, Dogecoin, altcoins and many other digital tokens. Changelly works in almost every country but you will need another cryptocurrency in order to purchase bitcoins. Exchanges happen almost instantly because Changelly never actually controls your tokens but just trades them.

PROS

• Easiest and speediest way to buy bitcoins with altcoins

• Fees are modest for bigger traders

CONS

• Need altcoins or other digital tokens to use

Ease of Use

Easy

Privacy

High

Speed

Fast

Fees

Average

Reputation

Trusted

Limits

High

The State of Bitcoin in Nigeria

Bitcoin has increased immense popularity ever since it was founded by Satoshi Nakamoto almost a decade ago in response to the financial crisis of 2008. With time, the Crypto currency has found its way into several financial markets along the globe as it is not controlled by a central regulatory authority, and its valuation is fixed by demand and supply on the open market.

This quality of Bitcoin has made the digital currency a big hit in the African nation of Nigeria. Actually, Nigeria was ranked second worldwide in Bitcoin trading in December last year, accounting for just over 6% of the global Bitcoin trade. Additionally, the value of peer-to-peer transactions in Bitcoin rose around 1,500% in Nigeria in 2017 notwithstanding an order from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) enforcing a ban on virtual currency transactions in January last year.

Obviously, the Nigerian government’s firm stance position on Bitcoin hasn’t deterred the public from using this cryptocurrency, and for good reason.

Why is Bitcoin so popular in Nigeria?

The soaring prominence of Bitcoin in Nigeria doesn’t seem surprising at all considering the state of the country’s economy and its currency. The country had artificially supported the price of the Naira from March 2015 for more than a year despite a drop in oil prices and the country’s foreign reserves.

The government was hoping to protect itself against inflation with such a move, but it eventually backfired. The country’s foreign reserves endured a shot as fears of degrading set frenzy among remote financial specialists who dumped their possessions in stocks and bonds. Inflation eventually arrived and the government took other extreme measures such as managing foreign exchange demand.

In basic words, Nigeria declared that certain assets were unworthy of spending money on. Also, banks imposed a breaking point on the foreign spends Nigerian customers were able to make. This created a major hassle for importers who needed to make payments in foreign currencies such as the U.S. dollar.

They were presently left with an alternative to get to the underground market at a lot higher rates to get to outside monetary standards. This is the place Bitcoin ventured in, as it enabled Nigerian clients to make installments to remote providers absent much issue. Of course, Bitcoin has turned into the cash of decision for Nigerian business people as they can beat the Naira’s unpredictability and the control practiced by the focal government.

Acceptability

The massive rise in peer-to-peer Bitcoin payments in Federal Republic of Nigeria last year is proof that there are a ton of merchants accepting the digital currency in the country. The low transaction fees associated with the cryptocurrency had encouraged more than 100,000 merchants in Nigeria to accept Bitcoin payments before the end of 2017.

Some of the key merchants accepting Bitcoin in Nigeria are highlighted below:

Gsm2me

Gsm2me, firmly held by Fecund Systems Limited that’s registered in Nigeria, is a site from where customers can purchase mobile airtime, messaging packs, and bulk messaging packs. The site supports over 550 networks spread across 135 countries. The company’s website clearly expresses that it accepts Bitcoin as a method of payment, apart from other currencies.

Minku

Minku, based out of the city of Lagos, is an online boutique and accessories company that sells its products across 16 countries globally also accepts Bitcoin. The company’s founder attributes the ease of doing business that Bitcoin brings as the reason why she accepts the digital currency, pointing out Bitcoin’s quick transaction ability, low expenses, and international acceptability as its advantages.

Shopnow

Shopnow is an e-commerce platform in Nigeria based on the model of Overstock. Founder Emmanuel Olorunisola was inspired by Overstock’s model when he purchased a watch on the American internet retailer’s platform using Bitcoin. Be that as it may,high shipping fees led him to create a Nigeria-specific solution where customers can purchase items using Bitcoin without having to pay additional charges involved while bringing goods from outside the country.

Conclusion

Nigeria is a classic example of a country where Bitcoin popularity has increased rapidly thanks to the issues and limitations faced by citizens while using traditional currency. The fact that users can easily purchase or sell Bitcoin in Nigeria with the help of bank transfers or debit cards, make payments for international purchases, and transact among each other because of the growing satisfactoriness of this digital currency is proof that it will continue enjoying growth over there.